Hey everyone,
here's the line-up and new ROM for season 2. The only changes are to make the lineups back to default as some of them were messed up from the ROM this used to be used for, and we no longer do re-seeding after 1st round. The new ROM is attached at bottom. We are going to extend the handicap slightly by introducing ASW and ASE for the two players who are 15th/16th, and the champion AngryJay93 is going to bump down to a worse team in the bottom tier. We've also extended to 8 tiers as shown here:
Tier 0 - ASW/ASE
Tier 1 - DET, CHI, BUF
Tier 2 - VAN, MTL, BOS
Tier 3 - WPG, LA, CGY
Tier 4 - DAL, TOR, QUE
Tier 5 - NYR, PHI, EDM
Tier 6 - PIT, STL, WSH
Tier 7 - NJD, NYI, HFD
Tier 8 - TB, FLA, SJ, ANA, OTT
1) @angryjay93 - after winning A division, AJ will drop to tier 8, and he has already pre-selected FLORIDA
2) @JSchmidt (Schmidt) - after coming in 2nd in A division after going undefeated prior, schmidt will drop to tier 7 and chooses the DEVILS.
3) @corbettkb - after a strong showing, but a tough loss to a grizzled sonoffet veteran, Corbett will drop to tier 6 and be assigned ST. LOUIS.
4) @Mitch Kramer (Chris O) TIER 4 - PHILADELPHIA FLYERS - after winning his first two rounds and being the only player to win a game against AJ, Chris O moves down to tier 6 and is assigned PITTSBURGH.
5) @sonoffett87 - after a strong showing in OHPL, and Qic, sonoffet will be made a tier 5 and is assigned NEW YORK RANGERS.
6) @Scribe99 - after losing a tough series to an experienced Chris O, scribe will be a tier 5 and be assigned PHILADELPHIA.
7) @danTML7 - after winning B league, but scrubbing out of QiC, danTML7 moves to tier 5 and will be EDMONTON.
8) @chaos - after a strong performance beating danTML7 in round 1, then losing to schmidt, chaos will drop to tier 4 and be assigned TORONTO.
9) @Jamiesoccer (Mr. T) - after beating slapshot in 5, then losing to the eventual tourney champ, Mr. T will be tier 4 and be assigned QUEBEC.
10) @Tecmo@DPS - after beating sevetieslord in 6 games in B division, tecmo/dps will stay in tier 3 and be assigned LOS ANGELES.
11) @NotThatJared - after a very strong showing losing in 7 games in the B finals, NotThatJared shoots up to tier 3 and is assigned WINNIPEG.
12) @seventieslord - after losing both series, but having a hard fought series against sonoffet in QiC, seventieslord will stay at tier 2 and be assigned VANCOUVER.
13) @aepurniet - after beating raidercanuck in a hard fought B battle, but succumbing to up-and-comer notthatjared, aepurniet will be tier 1 and be assigned BUFFALO.
14) @Hot_sauce - after losing two straight rounds, slapshot will drop to tier 1 and be assigned CHICAGO.
15) @Joe H - after losing two rounds in a row, Joe will go to the newly formed tier 0 and be assigned ALL STARS EAST.
16) @Raidercanuck1329 - after losing both series, raidercanuck will move to the newly formed tier 0 and be assigned ALL STARS WEST.
Backup list:
@CamKneely2 (SOH)@MikeGartner22 @IceStorm70@sheehy
OHPLv2.bin

hey everyone. The season is approaching the end. I'm looking to solicit feedback and confirm interest from those who played in the pilot to see if they'd like to join season 2! Feel free to indicate interest here, DM me on discord, and send a smoke signal. I'm open to all ideas to make the season more fun and competitive for all!

hey sorry @CamKneely2, I have you now listed as #2 backup coach, meaning if someone backs out, has bad connection issues, doesn't meet weekly deadlines, or doesn't join next year, then you'll be in. Please keep watching on nhl94online.com for the standings and I'll circle back when you can hop in! hopefully season 2.

Online Handicapped Playoff League
tl;dr - do you want to join a 16 team playoff bracket where you have max 7 days to complete each series using Genesis over RetroArch only that starts Wednesday April 1? If YES, reply here to indicate interest or DM me on Discord (danTML7#0996), and I’ll update the list of players as we go. If you want to know the details, read on past this point.
There’s been some clamor going on lately about people wanting to do an online tournament because we are all stuck at home, quarantined, and we can’t do in-person events. Leagues also can be troublesome to connect with 12+ different people to get your matches in. Thus I came up with an idea to create a 16-person bracket and attempt to seed players/teams based on skill and readjust each “season” depending on how a player did in the previous tournament. Basically the strongest players take the weakest teams, and vice versa and readjust as we go.
Here’s how it will work:
Step 1: indicate interest in participating in this. When you do so, you agree that you can play up to 4 series with max 7 games in the next 3-6 weeks. I will start with the first 8 to indicate interest will get in. If we pass 8, then we will expand to 16. If we pass 16, we will shoot for 32 in which case there will be 6 duplicates (3 on each side) so highly unlikely to meet in the final.
Step 2: I will post the player list and what tier you have been assigned based on your skill level. Skill level will be determined based on my prior knowledge, your DMs to me suggesting where you should be, your win/loss % online, your most recent league play, the world live rankings, etc. Remember, it readjusts anyway, so if you do poorly in Pilot season, you will move up a tier next round.
Step 3: You have 24 hours to contact me with your preferred order of team selection in that tier. I will do my best to get you the team you want the most. In subsequent years, you will likely not get the same team. If you don’t contact me with a team order, you will just be randomly assigned a team in that tier. If two people have a team in same tier as their #1 choice, a coin flip decides it.
The Sega tiers are as follows:
Tier 1: DET, BUF CHI, VAN
Tier 2: MTL, LA, CGY, WPG, BOS
Tier 3: QUE, DAL NYR, TOR
Tier 4: PHI, EDM, WSH, PIT
Tier 5: NJD, STL, HFD, NYI
Tier 6: TB, SJ, OTW, ANH, FLA
Step 4: I send the matches to Chaos and he gets them set up on the site. You then have 1 week to complete your matches. If we all complete them in 1 day, the next round starts immediately and we have 1 week from that new date to complete. No exceptions will be made. Please connect through Discord through PM and find your playing partner. Try to finish the series in one sitting unless time constraints force it to be split. Upload matches immediately to the website.
***If I could request that everyone withholds their feedback until after the end of the tournament so that we can let it all play out and then review how it can be made better. I welcome and appreciate all feedback and will take it under consideration in my discussions with other league admins to improve it. Hopefully this should be something that can keep us all busy playing meaningful games to help us get through COVID isolation and lack of NHL playoffs***
FAQ - Q: Why don’t you do a team draft? - With 16 teams and a large skill gap between the elite and casual players, an elite player with a 16th ranked team isn’t at enough of a disadvantage to fully balance it out. The goal of this tournament is parity. We want each series to go to as close to 7 games as possible and be balanced. Nobody should go into any series knowing full well that they are going to definitely lose. This may mean some elite players lose early, but could still go on to win the loser’s bracket.
Q: What will the bracket look like?
1 TAMPA BAY HARTFORD 2
16 CHICAGO DETROIT 15
7 NEW YORK R DALLAS 8
10 MONTREAL LOS ANGELES 9
5 QUEBEC TORONTO 6
12 BOSTON CALGARY 11
3 PHILADELPHIA PITTSBURGH 4
14 BUFFALO WINNIPEG 13
After round 1, the round 1 8 losers will go into B pool as well so everyone person gets at least 2 series each time we run this league. We will re-seed round 2 with top seed playing bottom, and the two middles playing.
THESE SERIES WILL BE BEST OF 7 WITH THE HIGHER SEED GETTING 2 AT HOME, THEN 2 AWAY, THEN HOME, AWAY, HOME TO FINISH.
Q: How will you seed the balanced teams? - For future seasons, we’ll have a better idea, but for this Pilot season, me and a couple other admins will try to handicap and see the player/team combos. Some may be randomized or just “luck of the draw”. Don’t read too much into it if you are seeded worse than you think you should be. Just prove us wrong!
Q: How do you select players for subsequent years? How do they move up and down? - All players who join pilot will be asked back for the second season. After that, a waitlist will be kept so if someone wants to back out and let someone else try, they can do that, or if they miss a week, we get a replacement coach to take over.
Q: Which ROM does this league use? - We will use the same ROM used in the “rolling lines” league. This means it’s the classic ROM, with the only exception of 1-minute penalties instead of the regular 2-minute. There will be no line changes, and follow all other etiquette of normal league rules.
Q: How do you re-balance after the Pilot season? - The four teams that lost two series will move UP a tier. If you are at tier 1, you will remain at tier 1. The four teams who go to the semi-finals will move down a tier. Everyone else will remain in their tier.
Q: What happens if you get interest from 32 people? - Then we will do our best to create two completely even brackets of 16.
Open registration begins Monday March 30th at 11am EST, or after all the people below have indicated in or out. Please PM or comment below if you’d like to be in and spots will be filled on a first-come first-served basis after the reservation list below is tackled.
The current OFFICIAL sign-up list is as follows:
1) @danTML7 TIER 3 - TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
2) @seventieslord TIER 2 - WINNIPEG JETS
3) @Tecmo@DPS TIER 3 - DALLAS STARS
4) @aepurniet TIER 2 - BOSTON BRUINS
5) @Raidercanuck1329 TIER 1 - BUFFALO SABRES
6) @angryjay93 TIER 6 - TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
7) @JSchmidt (Schmidt) TIER 5 - HARTFORD WHALERS
8) @Jamiesoccer (Mr. T) TIER 2 - MONTREAL CANADIENS
9) @Mitch Kramer (Chris O) TIER 4 - PHILADELPHIA FLYERS
10) @sonoffett87 TIER 2 - LOS ANGELES KINGS
11) @Scribe99 TIER 3 - QUEBEC NORDIQUES
12) @NotThatJared TIER 1 - CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS
13) @corbettkb TIER 4 - PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
14) @chaos TIER 2 - CALGARY FLAMES
15) @Joe H TIER 1 - DETROIT RED WINGS
16) @Hot_sauce TIER 3 - NEW YORK RANGERS
backup list: @CamKneely2 (SOH) @IceStorm70 @sheehy @Lupz27
nhl94OHPL.bin

This was my first real live tournament with competitive competition. I had went to one in my city and placed 3rd for Sega, and then joined the online league about 6 months ago, and worked my way up and lost in the finals of B division, and even won a few in A division, so I was feeling pretty confident.
We arrived at the Moxy and they effed up my reservation and gave away my room with the 4 twin beds to someone else! I was about to become Canadian enraged, which means passively aggressively saying "eh" a lot, when they offered me a second room at no charge!!! So for $79/night, I got 2 rooms for myself, my bro, my buddy, and 2 kids. It worked out well. That place was happening!! So I put the kids to bed, and came to meet everyone. Played one exi with Toronto against a guy who turned out to really hate Sega so I won 8-1ish (what up Hank!?), but he really loved Dr. Mario. I am the #1 ranked Dr. Mario player in Regina, SK, Canada, so I figured I'd give him a chance at redemption. He won 8 of 9 before I could take no more. Wow. I have a lot to learn there.
Immediately jumped into 2v2. Me and @kevincabarello were an amazing team! sniping one timers out of nowhere and defeating @kingraph and his partner twice in a row, along with another group.
We were eventually defeated by Raph, but we had our moment. I believe we actually shut them out. Raph hasn't been shut out since 2002 I think! Everyone started clearing out around 1 and I kept trying to keep the night going, but nobody else wanted, so I went back upstairs to get a good night's rest after buying the boys some fireball and Jager! As you can see, Raph loved it a lot!!
Woke up refreshed, and had some hotel breakfast and made the short walk to the Pour House Uptown. Played a couple exis on the CRTs to warm up. Things were rocking. I was definitely nervous. Heartrate was up and hands were jittery. I was smiling ear to ear when I heard my national anthem sung by @Edge of '94 Midwest Troy... But I wish I had read the sheet that said "you aren't going to win the first time you attend. You should focus on winning one game" because alas, I did not.
My goal coming in was actually to lose to Raph or AJ in the semis. I thought that was very possible based on my previous online play. But I had a very hard draw with @Scribe99 @angryjay93 Eric and TecmoDPS (Daniel Slattery). But I only knew AJ from online play. I chose to play him first to get that loss out of the way. When I went down 5-0 in the first, I was worried, but I managed to stave off the mercy win and lose only 7-2. I thought "hey man, you're still in good shape! He's probably going to win all his other games by 6 goals, so you're technically in 2nd!"
Next, I went for the 5th seed Eric so I could build up my ego and get an easy win. Fail. He won 2-0.
This is fine, I told myself, as my next opponent was also 0-2. There's no way I'm the worst in this division, after playing over 1000 games in the last 6 months online. We have a very defensive battle between @DPS and myself. We go to OT 1-1. All I gotta do is win, and with my low goal differential, even 1-3 should be enough to make top 16. Nope. He wins it in OT.
Time to take a break, do something different. I order a burger and she asks me how much pink I want in it. That s**t's nasty. In Canada, it's illegal! Anyway, I order my WELL DONE cheeseburger and find out they don't have paralyzers in USA, they are called Bulldogs. So I grab one of those, double... Then another double... then when I try to get one more, she tells me it's 2-4-1 time for happy hour. Still undetermined whether or not those were doubles also, but I got another 2 and then another 2. I wasn't drunk for my last game when I lost that also in overtime to Scribe, but as it rolled into my "Joes" division matches, it was starting to hit me. First series against an amateur, and I had to purposely make sure I didn't win by 6 to be polite. Then, match 2 against Eric again who shut me out in group prelims. Game 1 he shut me out until midway through third. that was 5 and a half periods that he shut me out. He's no "JOE" if you ask me! I scored one or two, but he won that I think. I took it to game 3 where he dismantled me. I won something, but didn't remember until I saw the pic.
Watching Raph and AJ duke it out for Gens was incredible. I wish we could have had it to go best of 7!
I continued those drinks, and played my SNES matches. I don't remember much of that, and then I did colour commentary and don't remember much of that. Then my phone died, so I couldn't google random facts about players anymore. That's when it hit me.... the bulldogs weren't happy with me. I spent the next 90 minutes in the bathroom and definitely did NOT miss the group photo and have to photoshop myself in later... any similarities to the pic above are strictly coincidental.
Someone told me that I went 3-1 in SNES and even won a playoff round. I'm shocked, but maybe I have a future in SNES?
All told, we drove 2500 km on the trip (y'alls religious billboards are HILARIOUS, call 1-888-83-TRUTH for evidence!), and I went 0-4 in prelims and 3-3 in B division, scoring 23 and allowing 23 in my main system (Genesis), and had a total blast. 100% would do again. The people are some of the purest gems in the world. Would give you the jersey off their back. Talking to Americans about politics was sure interesting. I'm a massive Bernie Sanders supporter. Many Americans I met seemed to love Canada, but hated simultaneously both Sanders and Trump. Sanders' platform is basically to make USA more like Canada. It's only socialism in as much as your school system, roads, garbage collection, fire department, medicare, medicaid, policing, social security, etc....... Every time someone wants to make a change that actually helps the people, the billionaires will brand them as socialist or communist. Don't be fooled! I wish America the best outcome possible in November, and I really hope you all make the right decisions between now and then on the candidate.
Hope to see you in NYC! Much love from Canada.

This was very useful to me @kingraph. would be cool if you had a slow-mo option to replay some things and explain your insight as you go along more slowly and things change.
at the end of the first, would be useful also if you could speak about what the defender is doing wrong, like how/when they could/should be tripping your open players or what defender they should have been instead of the one they were, or whether they should have B/C/CB you, etc.
either way, was fun to watch and would like to see the Sega finals recap.

So it's looking like I'll be making the drive from SK, Canada to Minot, then to Minny. If anyone's on the way and wants to split fuel costs, let me know. Still undetermined whether I'm going with kids or without. Long story short, I had a buddy from USA visit me in Canada and then get deported, so I still have a bunch of his s**t in my closet, so he's taking a flight to Minot and I'm picking him up to help with the drive. Then he can fly his s**t back home with him to Cali haha. But I have a larger vehicle if someone wants a ride. Cheers!